100 Favorite Dishes: No. 70, Moules-Frites at the Broken Spoke

​This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least once.

It's a given that the mussels should be good at a Belgian restaurant. But at the Broken Spoke, you get much more than a solid pot of mussels; you also get some of the city's best fries and owner Catherine Duwez.

In addition to making a thick, lemon-zinged mayonnaise for your frites, Duwez will warn you ahead of time if the mussels are too small to really be enjoyed. Right now, however, they're ideal: fat and plump and almost too big to be believed. La Complet Belge is my favorite way to enjoy the duo of mussels and fries, because it comes with a pint of Stella Artois to round it out -- and all for $25, which is only $5 more than just the pot of moules marinières alone.

And if you're adventurous, Duwez will whip up a special dipping sauce for the mussels with her wonderful mayonnaise. In the style of Antwerp, the sauce is meant for the mussels only -- "not the fries!" as she will quickly point out -- and is made by whipping mayonnaise together with malt vinegar. The combination is addictive, especially on the briny-sweet, super plump mussels that I pop like candy until the pot is empty.

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